nt, and incalculable distress would follow.
They think that the French would blockade the American ports, and
then such obstruction would be inevitable. A system like ours,
which resembles a vast piece of machinery, no part of which can be
disordered without danger to the whole, must be always liable to
interruption or injury from causes over which we have no control;
and this danger must always attend the extension of our
manufacturing system to the prejudice of other interests; so that
in case of a stoppage or serious interruption to the current in
which it flows the consequences would be appalling; nor is there
in all probability a nation on the Continent (our good ally Louis
Philippe included) that would not gladly contribute to the
humiliation of the power and diminution of the wealth of this
country.

[2] [This dispute arose from the detention of American
ships by the Emperor Napoleon under the Continental
system. The Americans claimed large damages, and the
negotiation lasted twenty years. At length General
Jackson, the American President, insisted on payment,
and the French Government settled the matter for
twenty-five millions of francs; but the question led to
a change in the French Ministry.]

December 16th, 1835 {p.323}

Dined with Sefton the day before yesterday to meet the Hollands;
sat between Allen and Luttrell. Melbourne was there in roaring
spirits; met me very cordially, and after dinner said, 'Well, how
are you? I had a great deal to say to you, but I forget what it
was now.' To which I replied, 'Oh, never mind now; we are here to
amuse ourselves, and we won't talk of other things.' I could not
have _settled_ anything with him there, so there was no use in
beginning; and this put him at his ease, instead of making him
hate the sight of me, and fancying wherever he met me that I
should begin badgering him about my affairs.[3] In the world men
must be dealt with according to what they are, and not to what
they ought to be; and the great art of life is to find out what
they are, and act with them accordingly.

[3] [This referred to some private affairs of Mr.
Greville's which were then under discussion, and on
which Lord Melbourne's influence was important.]

Allen talked of Mackintosh, and of his declaration of religious
belief on his deathbed, when he had never believed at all during
his li